American psychologist Frederick Irving Herzberg, along with Bernard Mauser and Barbara Snyderman, developed Herzberg’s Two Factors Theory of Motivation in 1968. According to Herzberg, two major factors influence an employee’s work performance.
These two factors are employee satisfaction and dissatisfaction, which affect employee productivity. The two factor theory is widely used today as it helps retain employees, makes them more efficient, and helps improve team coordination.
What is Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory of Motivation?
Herzberg’s Two Factors Theory states that certain factors in the workplace cause job satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Factors affecting both categories are independent of each other.
Herzberg identified thirteen different motivation and hygiene factors that affect job satisfaction and dissatisfaction separately. Motivational factors cause job satisfaction, whereas hygiene factors prevent job dissatisfaction.
The Two Factors of Motivation in Herzberg’s Theory
Motivation Factors (Increasing Job Satisfaction)
When Herzberg conducted a survey and asked employees about their job satisfaction, most of the answers were related to intrinsic factors (factors that were internal to the organization). The six factors that can help employees satisfy their self-actualization and growth needs are listed below.
- Achievement: Achievements lead to a positive impact on the employee’s productivity and increase their job satisfaction. A sense of accomplishment is a proven factor in fulfilling a worker’s expectations from their job. A positive achievement like being able to solve a professional issue, completing a task successfully within the given timeline, or achieving a target, leads to better job satisfaction. However, negative achievements like failure to complete a task, slow work progression, and bad professional decisions can decrease job satisfaction.
- Nature of Work: The nature of work can lead to a positive or negative work environment. It can increase or decrease the employee’s job satisfaction. For example, if the employee is working in a field that interests them, it leads to positive job satisfaction. Flexible timelines, ease of work, and transparency also help improve job satisfaction. However, if the job is complicated or employee engagement is low, the level of job satisfaction decreases.
- Responsibility: Responsibility refers to an employee being responsible towards the organization and using their authority to complete the task. When employees are given adequate responsibility and authority, their job satisfaction levels increase as they feel that the employer trusts their decisions. On the other hand, job satisfaction decreases when employees do not receive responsibility and authority from their employers.
- Advancement: Advancement refers to the upward movement in terms of promotion or increment. A positive status leads to increased job satisfaction that enhances employee productivity and helps them remain content in their jobs. However, a negative or stagnant status leads to a decrease in employee satisfaction and distress or demotivation to continue working.
- Recognition: Recognition can be acknowledgment, incentives, rewards, or praise when an employee reaches a target, provides high-quality work, or completes a task successfully on time. Recognition is mostly given in front of peers, superiors, and subordinates, leading to positive job satisfaction. However, negative recognition, such as blaming or criticizing an employee in front of everyone for being unsuccessful at a task, results in a decrease in job satisfaction.
- Growth Possibilities: Growth possibilities help employees explore new areas at the workplace that help them become better professionals. The higher the growth possibility, the higher the opportunity for employee promotion, personal growth, and increased chances of enhancing professional skills. A higher growth possibility at the workplace leads to positive job satisfaction, whereas little to no growth possibility leads to a significant decrease in job satisfaction.
Hygiene Factors (Decreasing Job Dissatisfaction)
Hygiene factors are conditions that provide a better environment to ensure each employee is physically, emotionally, and mentally healthy. Since hygiene factors are external to the job and not directly influenced by the work, they fall under extrinsic factors of motivation.
Herzberg identified seven hygiene factors. The positive impact of these factors results in decreased job dissatisfaction, and its negative impact results in increased dissatisfaction.
- Job Security: Job security ensures employees that their job is secured under organizational policies. The company can communicate that it will provide employees with financial security to eliminate the fear of losing their jobs. Employers can offer benefits such as insurance, notice period remuneration, paid leaves, and more. When an employee feels secure, job dissatisfaction decreases. If the employee is insecure about the job, job dissatisfaction increases.
- Salary or Wages: The pay structure should be as per the working position, and the company should pay the employee enough so they can maintain a decent living. The salary should be competitive and ensure they receive increments for decreased job dissatisfaction. If salaries are unfair, or not as per the working conditions, job dissatisfaction will increase.
- Working Environment: A good working environment involves clean surroundings, a healthy atmosphere, and agreeable people. The better the working conditions, the lower the job dissatisfaction. If the working environment is poor and employees are surrounded by toxicity, job dissatisfaction will increase.
- Interpersonal Relations: Interpersonal relations are relationships between employees, their peers, superiors, and subordinates. When an employee works with positive and strong interpersonal relations, job dissatisfaction is decreased. However, poor interpersonal relations can increase job dissatisfaction.
- Supervision: Employees should be supervised minimally and given autonomy as per the job requirements to keep them motivated. Supervision involves what an employee thinks about their supervisor’s competence and fairness. If the employees feel that supervisors are unfair and not competent enough, job dissatisfaction can increase. This generally happens when an employee has no authority and responsibility. However, when employees are trusted by their supervisors, they feel their supervisors are fair and competent, leading to decreased job dissatisfaction.
- Company Administration, Rules, and Policies: This factor refers to how clear management and organizational policies are to the employees. When policies are vague and procedures are ineffective, employees can feel demotivated, leading to increased job dissatisfaction. However, when company policies and administration are clear and fair, employees are motivated. This leads to a decrease in job dissatisfaction.
- Benefits: Employment benefits like insurance, health care plans, bonuses, employee help programs, family support, etc., help decrease job dissatisfaction and motivate employees to be more productive. Employees become demotivated during an absence of these benefits, and their job dissatisfaction increases.
The Four Functioning States of an Organization According to Herzberg
#1. High Hygiene and High Motivation
High hygiene and high motivation are the ideal conditions for an employee as it satisfies both extrinsic and intrinsic motivational needs. Every manager should strive to achieve this state for their employees for high performance.
#2. Low Hygiene Low and Motivation
This is the least ideal situation for employees. Since both extrinsic and intrinsic factors are not fulfilled, employees will be dissatisfied and unmotivated. Businesses must avoid such situations at all costs.
#3. High Hygiene and Low Motivation
In this situation, employees are less dissatisfied with the job and only have a handful of grievances since intrinsic motivation factors are fulfilled. However, they are also not extremely motivated. In this situation, employees only work for monetary benefits.
#4. Low Hygiene and High Motivation
With high motivation and low hygiene conditions, the employees are extremely motivated to work but have issues because the salary is not good. However, they enjoy their work.
Example of Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory
John is a manager managing a team of 5 people. Each member is motivated because John has made the working process interesting through interactive sessions, engaging workshops, and frequent group discussions. This leads to a fulfilled motivation factor.
However, John pays 20% less than industry standards, creating distress amongst team members as the exciting work process does not compensate for the underpaid salaries. This leads to an increase in job dissatisfaction as hygiene factors are not duly taken care of. Over a period of 13 months, two employees leave John’s team and join their competitor, who has a similarly interesting job process with better pay.
John realizes the importance of fair pay scales, and hence he increases the employees’ salaries by 20% to match industry standards. This helps John retain the existing employees and helps him hire two great replacements. Implying Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory helps John in creating a productive team that works hard to accomplish organizational goals.
Pros of Using Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory
#1. Emphasis on all Factors of Motivation
Herzberg’s theory takes into consideration both internal and external factors of motivation that help employees in increasing their motivation and productivity. It also focuses on motivation that comes from within the employees to ensure that they are internally satisfied with the job.
#2. Money Comes Second
More emphasis is placed on employee recognition, appreciation, job fulfillment, promotions, and strong relationships. This makes money secondary as a motivational factor since employees are more motivated by the factors stated above. Herzberg’s theory is different from most theories because it measures employee job satisfaction beyond monetary constraints.
#3. Companies Focus Directly on Employees’ Grievances
This theory enables companies to think about employees’ problems from an employee’s perspective. Companies do not believe that increasing salaries can motivate employees enough to be productive in the long term. Companies that use this theory focus on employee issues and ensure that dissatisfied employees are given the right solutions beyond monetary compensation.
Cons of Using Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory
#1. Herzberg’s Theory is Subjective
Different employees have different meanings of job satisfaction. Some employees are satisfied when they are paid well, whereas some are only satisfied when they receive proper recognition. Hence, the high subjectivity of the theory makes it difficult to assess the ideal source of complete job satisfaction.
#2. Ignores Blue Collar Employees
This theory widely focuses on working professionals in the corporate world, also known as white collar employees. Ignoring blue collar employees leads to ignoring a considerable proportion of the working force where employees are not satisfied in their jobs but work out of obligations like family commitments.
#3. Job Productivity is Not Directly Linked with Job Satisfaction
It is not necessarily the case that satisfied employees will be highly productive and vice versa. Job satisfaction doesn’t lead to an equal increase in job productivity because both are independent of each other.
Job satisfaction is one of the many factors that affect an employee’s productivity. Hence, when a company takes measures to increase employee job satisfaction, it may or may not result in increased productivity from the employees.
How Can Managers Apply Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory?
#1. Identify the Stressors Amongst the Team Members
The first step in applying Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory is to analyze the factors leading to employee job dissatisfaction. Afterward, identify the factors motivating the employees to remain in the job. By identifying stressors and motivators, managers can identify the factors they need to eliminate and improve for better job satisfaction.
Both stressors and motivators can be identified by conducting polls and surveys. Employers can ask employees what they dislike the most about their jobs, what makes them the happiest at the workplace, what they want to change about their job, and what working conditions they would like to change.
#2. Eliminate Hygiene Stressors
Eliminating hygiene stressors like a poor working environment, inadequate pay, and weak interpersonal relationships helps decrease job dissatisfaction. Once the negative hygiene stressors are eliminated, employees feel better about their jobs as physical working conditions are improved, interpersonal relationships bloom, and they are compensated well for their work.
#3. Boost Job Satisfaction Through Motivational Incentives
The next step in applying the theory is to boost job satisfaction through motivational incentives like recognition, rewards, appreciation, more job responsibilities and advancements, increased growth opportunities, and work advancements. Once these motivational factors are applied, employees’ job satisfaction increases, and they are motivated to perform well in the workplace.
#4. Monitor Progress to Make Changes if Needed
Lastly, after employing both motivational and hygiene factors, managers must monitor the changes in employees to check if the factors are working. If overall job satisfaction in employees increases along with better employee performance, it implies that the Two Factor Theory has worked. However, if the employees are still dissatisfied and not productive enough, it is time to change the strategy to motivate employees through other factors that may be affecting their job performance.
Conclusion
Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory of employee motivation helps managers identify what increases an employee’s job satisfaction and decreases their dissatisfaction. Managers then employ positive factors and eliminate negative factors in the workplace for enhanced job performance.
All organizations can use this theory at all levels because it covers both extrinsic and intrinsic factors of motivation. The theory enables employees to be satisfied with their job and themselves.